Rockford aldermen to target empty homes near schools

About 1,600 properties have had their water shut off. More than 5,000 addresses are listed as vacant by the U.S. Postal Service. And the 2010 census counts 8,553 vacant housing units in about 6,000 empty houses and apartments.

But vacancies don't necessarily mean that the buildings have been abandoned or can't be saved.

Now that the City Council is looking to at least triple the number of vacant houses it demolishes next year, aldermen are taking a look at exactly how the city prioritizes and finds structures for demolition.

For years, the city has torn down about 20 of the most dilapidated structures each year, targeting those on a fast-track list for emergency demolition.

The list consists of houses neighbors have complained about and city inspectors deemed dangerous or rotted-through enough to condemn, allowing the city to bypass a lengthy process to buy the property first.

With 58 houses on the list, it would normally take three years to get to the bottom of it. But the city plans to tear down 70 to 100 next year.

To get there, that list will need to grow.

Inspectors may start proactively looking for dangerous structures.

"There's not really a point in having staff go out and identify properties if there are no resources to tear them down," said Vicki Manson, the city's development programs manager.

"But now that there are resources, we might start identifying properties as well as talking calls and complaints."

It's taken numerous years for the empty, faded-yellow, one-story house on Browns Beach Road to make it to the top of the list.

The riverfront house's garage door is kicked in several spots; sheets cover gaping holes in the walls, porch and deck.

It's a mess, said Barbara Klein, who has lived two doors down with her husband, Raymond, for about 45 years.

"I know there are rodents in there," she said. "You just feel like you're in a slum."

The buildings are ranked for demolition by a number of factors, including complaints received, open holes in the walls or roof or being a hotbed for crime or drug use.

The city has just begun setting criteria for next year's demolitions.

Ald. Karen Elyea, D-11, is "still making my own list of addresses to throw out there right now. And residents are calling me with more addresses. I know we want to target places with high visibility and that are next to schools."

The city won't focus the demolitions to specific wards or parts of the city, Ald. Tom McNamara, D-3, said.

"We just want to make sure were focusing on high-crime areas and places around schools so that kids aren't walking by blighted or dangerous places," he said.